What's the T?

harrietchristelow1
May 17, 2020
3 min read

TIME TO TALK hand embellishing!

Hand embellishing is a true undeniable art form. It is something i am so lucky to have been brought up being taught by my grandma. Once a month a new mini cross stitch pattern and threads would turn up at my door and i would get to work. Finished and feeling proud i would post it back or wait for her next visit. (she lives down by the coast unfortunately). Those were the days before good old video chat or camera phones.

Wether it is hand embroidering letters, cross stitching patterns or full on gold work. It is an art form past down through history, and is absolutely making its come back with the help of social medias such as Instagram and video streaming sites like youtube. Providing people of all ages the opportunities to view, watch and fall in love. Most importantly give them the chance try out these skills for themselves.

After university i felt so lost. You study and learn so much in three years and they pull and push you in all directions. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing as i was able to learn more than i could have ever ask for, but i feel there is a very quick sudden sharp drop off the edge of a metaphorical cliff the minute you receive that certificate in your hand. You are suddenly plunged it the world of work not knowing where to even start!

Interning for me was a god send, i wouldn't be doing what i am now without it. I Interned for two incredible designers Sorcha O'Raghallaigh and Antonio Berardi, which both used a lot of embellishment work in there clothing.

Interning for Sorcha was by far one of my favourite times. Not only is she honestly one of the most lovely humans but her ability to sew is breath taking. I learnt so much from her, she gave me some incredible experiences along with the Berardi team. But interning is cut short as you can only go so long without a liveable wage. Again i found my self lost at the bottom of the cliff not knowing where to turn next. After a few more years in and out of the fashion world and a lot of soul searching, my heart found its way back to EMBELLISHMENT.

Above in the first three photos are embellishments I did for garments designed by Designer Sorcha O'Raghallaigh. The next three are embellishment work i did for garments designed by Designer Antonio Berardi that showed at LFW.

After some time and as i mentioned in my first blog post about working out who i wanted to be as a designer that lead me to this first collection, were i have fully embraced doing what i love with lace and beads.

When it comes to designing my bead designs it quite often comes before i have thought through the outfit plan. I quite often design around the embellishments, this is probably seen as quite unorthodox approach to designing but I've learnt there is no one set way to design. Living for photoshop i tend to sit on there with pictures, shapes and textures I've seen and merge them together.

This is one of my early design pages from the

collection working on colour, and shapes for

the embellishments.

For the collection i have used one type of gold corded lace. This is because i like to deconstruct and redesign the lace to how i want it to look.Theres so much you can do with lace, also using less types of lace means there is less waste at the end. Dark ruby crystals were my main stone of choice for the hearts of my embellishment designs, which i have then used varying gold, pink and smaller ruby crystals and beads to fill in around.

Above are a few examples of the lace as it comes, then were i have deconstructed it, and reshaping it to fit the design.

Hand embellishment takes time and patience, which i think in a world that moves at such a fast pace people have forgotten how to slow down, and take the time to really create something really beautiful. Hopefully this is one positivity we can take from the Covid 19 lockdown, is that people have learnt how to slow down again and enjoy life in the moment.

Any way back on track. What i was thinking to finish off todays entry, is to show you a few little sneak peaks into the collections embroidery and embellishments so far hope you enjoy....